Mo is a Partner and Head of the Care Team at Sills & Betteridge LLP, overseeing all Public Law Children Act work across the firm’s East Midlands offices. She specialises in complex care proceedings and represents children (both through their Guardian and directly), parents, and other family members in highly sensitive matters.
Practising exclusively in Family Law since qualifying in 2003, Mo has been accredited by the Law Society Children Panel since 2006, enabling her to act for children through the Children's Guardian and directly where appropriate. She has particular expertise in representing teenagers who are competent to provide their own instructions.
Mo’s work includes complex Deprivation of Liberty cases, Secure Accommodation applications, adoption proceedings, cross‑jurisdiction matters, and disputes involving legal parentage and assisted reproduction under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act. She regularly undertakes her own advocacy, including in contested hearings and with permission in the High Court.
Recent work includes High Court litigation concerning post‑adoption contact, and multiple DoLS cases involving teenagers in the care of Local Authorities. Mo also represents children joined to Private Law proceedings, usually in cases with significant safeguarding or welfare concerns.
As Head of the Care Team, Mo is responsible for practitioner development and delivers extensive training within the firm on care proceedings, adoption, special guardianship, DoLS, and secure accommodation.
She is a member of Resolution and contributes to training within the wider family justice community.
Mo is part of Sills & Betteridge’s award‑winning Family Law Department, which won Children’s Law Team of the Year in 2023 and Family Law Firm of the Year (Midlands & Wales) in 2024 at the LexisNexis Family Law Awards - alongside multiple finalist positions at other national awards - and has been Top Tier in the Legal 500 for three consecutive years.
Legal 500 Testimonial
‘Mo Hayes is a very experienced children's lawyer who represents parents, grandparents and children. She is a conscientious, hard-working, and effective advocate. Sympathetic to vulnerable parents but realistic in the advice given.’
